It has been found to be advantageous that automatic fire weapons simulators of the laser-type be used so that military combat practices in the area may be carried out in a realistic fashion.
In the past radiation transmitters have been utilized for emitting a narrow beam of optical radiation, the transmitter being mounted to be aimed with the weapon simulated and combined with detector means oriented to a target and hit and miss indicator means in the form of audio or visual signal means. In man-to-man combat simulation systems of this type the man must be covered with numerous detectors which are easily interfered with, e.g., on military maneuvers or during regular practice. The term commonly used to described this process is "Dry Firing" and indicates the firing of a firearm without the use of real ammunition. As will be appreciated, this type of practice improves proficiency in such phases of marksmanship as holding the correct "sight picture" and coordinating breathing with trigger squeeze.
Known in the prior art are weapons simulator systems in which, for instance, a laser transmitter is attached above or under the barrel of a rifle with external batteries used to power the laser transmitter in response to the trigger being pulled.
In another known system the laser transmitter is triggered by acoustical energy developed by the firing mechanism of the firearm. The triggering means includes a sound energy to electrical energy transducer.
Although the latter type simulator, on the whole is adequate as regards its operation, a drawback is the frequent "false triggering" on account of the non-filtering of extraneous sounds.
Another drawback is the problem of providing the proper synchronizations between pulling the trigger and emitting an output signal.
A still further drawback of this prior art system is that such system is capable of utilizing only a single laser beam which, as will be appreciated, greatly affects and restricts the general operation of the laser transmitters as regards the aiming and hit and miss adjustments of the weapon.